Apparatus for manufacturing discharge lamps



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' DAM fl M0114 APPTUS FOR MANUFACTURING DISCHARGE LAMPS Daniel Multan, Hillside, N. 1., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa, 2. corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 29, 1953, Serial No. 358,412

3 Claims. (Cl. 316-32) This invention relates to apparatus for manufacturing tubular fluorescent lamps and more particularly those of a curvilinear configuration.

The principal object of my invention, generally considered, is to avoid uncertainty in connecting the lead wires of curvilinear or circular discharge lamps of the fluorescent type, to the filament lighting circuit, when said lamps are being processed on an exhaust machine.

Another object of my invention is to provide four metal cups, on an insulated platform supported by a square or non-circular rod, suspended from the exhaust machine spider at each head thereof, and containing preferably silver flakes or grains adapted for connection to the lighting tracks of the machine.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel lamp support comprising a non-circular or square rod, a bracket slidable therealong and clampable thereto, four cups on said bracket, metal granules in each cup, and a pair of arms projecting from said bracket and adapted to supportingly underlie a curvilinear or circular discharge lamp.

Other objects and advantages of the invention Will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of an exhaust machine and one of the heads thereof, on the line II of Fig. 4, in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, on the line IIH of Fig. l, in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan of an exhaust machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan View of a portion of the machine adjacent a head with parts in section, on the line IVlV of Fig. l, in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line V-V of Fig. 4, in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a wiring diagram of the apparatus.

In the Yoder et al. patent, No. 2,494,923, dated January 17, 1950, there is disclosed a method and apparatus for bending and exhausting tubular lamps, of the character contemplated for processing in accordance with the present invention. In accordance with said patent, the lamp envelope is bent to curvilinear configuration, prior to being made into a lamp, the lamp being seasoned by energizing its lead-in conductors by engagement with lighting tracks illustrated in Fig. 9 of the patent. The passage of electricity at said engagement effects the treatment of the electrodes of the assembly and may develop a discharge between various portions of the electrode assemblies.

In accordance with the present invention, I propose to assure positive contact which will simplify the activities of the operator who loads lamps into the exhaust machine ports. For this purpose, I provide four metal cups mounted on an insulated platform and suspended from the exhaust machine adjacent each exhaust head. Each nite rates Patent ice cup is partially filled with silver flakes or grains and connected by suitable conduits to the conventional filament lighting tracks on the machine. In place of silver I may use any other suitable metallic material that will withstand high temperatures and provide good electrical conductivity.

Each time the operator loads a lamp into an exhaust port, the cup assembly is elevated to a predetermined height which causes each of the four prepositioned lead wires to be submerged into the respective cups of silver granules. I have also provided an improved means for supporting the lamps during evacuation and energization.

Referring to the drawing in detail, like parts being designated by like reference characters, there is shown diagrammatically in plan in Figure 3, a 32 port or head exhaust machine for processing curvilinear or circular fluorescent lamps, sometimes sold under the trademark Circline. It will be seen that this machine comprises a spider 11 (Fig. 1) carrying 32 exhaust heads 12 evenly disposed about its periphery. These exhaust heads during operation of the machine, are indexed as by an intermittent drive means 7, which includes an electric motor 8 and chain drive 9, from station to station, a corresponding number of stations being distributed around the periphery of the machine and correspondingly spaced. After loading the lamps, at positions or stations numbered 30 or 34, the said lamps are exhausted and flushed successively through the stations following until station 25 is reached where the fill gas is introduced. At station 27 the lamp is tipped ofi and at station 28 or 29, the lamp may be unloaded from the machine.

Besides the exhaust heads 12, at each position on the spider ii, there is provided support rod 13, square or non-circular in section, which depends from the spider, which is in turn rotatably supported on a central vertical shaft (not shown). Qarried by each support rod is an insulating platform 14 extending from a slidable body portion i5 which is held on its rod by a retainer plate 26 and tap bolts 38, and adjustably clamped in position, as by means of locking handle 16 threaded into a boss thereon, so that its inner end may be caused to engage its rod 13. The insulating platform 14 carries arms 17 and 18 adapted to underlie a curvilinear discharge or fluorescent lamp l9, and hold its radially-extending exhaust tube 21 in the exhaust head 12, for processing such as previously discussed.

Each platform 14 also carries four cups 22, 23, 24 and 25, formed of brass or other suitable metal, each of which holds when in use a quantity of silver flakes or granules 26. Although I prefer that such flakes or granules consist of silver in the metallic condition, yet it will be understood that other similar suitably-conducting metal flakes or granules may be substituted. The positioning of the arms 17 and 18 is such that when a lamp 19 is supported, as viewed in Fig. 1, its leads 27, 28, 29 and 31 are, respectively, conveniently insertable in the cups 22, 23, 24 and 25, thereby making a good electrical contact therewith.

In order to conduct the energizing power to the cups, each stem 32 thereof is connected through a corresponding electrical cable or lead 33, to a contact 34, each of which engages its own current-carrying brush 35 projecting from a curved support 36, and connected to an appropriate source of power by an electrical cable or lead 49. Said supports are immovably mounted on brackets 37 secured to posts 38 projecting from the base of the machine (not shown). This means that as each head approaches the station or stations at which seasoning is to be eifected, such as stations 12 through 27, between which the supports 36 are shown to extend (Fig. 3),

the four contacts34 are engaged by the corresponding preferably silver brushes 35, and the corresponding cups energized to conduct power through the metallic material 26 in said cups, to the leads 27, 28,29 and 31 of the lamp being processed, to effect the desirederiergization of the electrode filaments and corresponding discharge therebetween.

The lighting circuit for such lamps is shown in Fig. 6. Here a lamp 19 receives energy through its leads, 27, 28, 29 and 31, from transformers 33, 39 and 41. The transformer 38 energizes the fiilament 42, through leads 27 and 28, receiving power from the brushes 35. An indicator lamp 43 is desirably provided across a resistor 44 in the circuit, to show when the filament 42 is actually energized.

A similar circuit is provided for the filament 45 at the other end of the lamp 19, from the transformer 39, a corresponding indicator lamp 46 being employed for showing that the filament is actually energized. It will be seen from the diagram that the transformer 41 serves to impose a potential between the filaments 42 and 45, so that upon energization thereof a discharge may occur through the length of the lamp 19, as is desired for seasoning purposes.

Although a preferred embodiment of my invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that modifications may occur to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for manufacturing arcuat discharge lamps, a spider rotatable about a vertical axis, a plurality of stations disposed about its periphery, said spider having a plurality of heads corresponding in number and spacing with said stations and connected to exhead with its ends and radially extending exhaust tubulation uppermost and with the exhaust tubulation projecting vertically into said head for processing said discharg lamp, and with the arcuately disposed members filling means, a platform slidably suspended from each head, means for adjustably clamping each platform in position and preventing rotation thereof, means for supporting an arcuate discharge lamp from each platform with its ends uppermost and its radially extending exhaust tubulation projecting vertically into said head for effecting processing of said'lamp, and said -supporting means including arcuately disposed members engaging the underside of the upper portions of said lamp, four metal cups carried by each platform, a quantity of granular silver disposed in each cup, means for transmitting electrical energy to said cups, and means for indexing said spider from station to station, whereby'after supporting a lamp at a head with the leads inserted in said cups, the filaments of the lamp may be activated and a discharge effected therebetween.

3. In apparatus for manufacturing arcuate discharge lamps, a spider rotatable about a vertical axis, a plurality of stations disposed about its periphery, said spider having a plurality of heads correspondingin number and spacing with said stations, a non-circular rod suspended from said spider adjacent each head, an insulating platform slidably mounted on each rod and held against rotation by the non-circular configuration of said rod, means for adjustably clamping each platform in position on its rod, four metal cups carried by each platform, a quan tity of granular silver disposed in each cup, a contact element carried by said 'rod for each cup, four supports curved about the axis of rotation of said spider and a mounted on said apparatus, a brush disposed adjacent each station and mounted on andv insulated from each support, means for supplying lamp-energizing power to said brushes, and means for indexing said spider from station to station, whereby the contact members engage said brushes at th stations toenergize the cups, a pair of arms projecting from each platform havingarcuate ends and adapted to supportingly underlie the upper engaging the underside of the upper portions of the lamp envelope, so that the lamp leads depend from the upper disposed lamp ends and are conveniently insertable in lamps, a spider rotatable about a vertical axis, a plurality of stations disposed about its periphery, said spider having portion. of an arcuate discharge lamp having its ends 7 uppermost and its radially extending exhaust tubulation projecting into its associated head, for processing of said lamp, said arms being positioned so that when supporting alamp theleads thereof may conveniently be' inserted in said cups for activating th filaments of the lamp and efiecting a discharge therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,006,771 Kayko et al. July'2, 1935 2,259,105 Freeman Oct; 14, 1941 2,494,923 Yoder et al. Jan. 17, 1950 2,506,575 Brandeis May 9, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 8,025 Great Britain 1897 

